The VAR Guy

Roughly a decade ago, Intel’s Itanium chip was expected to emerge as the 64-bit standard for next-generation computing. Fast forward to the present, and neither Microsoft nor Red Hat plan to support Itanium on future operating system releases. Have software companies essentially killed Itanium? Certainly not. The deadly shot came from a surprise gunman: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Here’s what happened.

Microsoft continues to polish its virtualization strategy. The company’s latest moves involve new versions of Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) and Application Virtualization (App-V) tools. Here are some quick details.

Amazon Web Services has launched Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS), allowing developers of hosted cloud applications to set up and send push notifications from their platform — and better yet, ISVs and VARs may well be able to leverage it for free. Here’s the scoop.

Any VARs or ISVs traversing the Internet ether for cloud services might want to take a look at this latest offering from Linxter. Linxter is a combination software development tool, messaging platform and more. Read on..

LANDesk, the systems management platform, is up for sale (again). LANDesk’s current owner, Emerson Network Power, apparently expects to sell the LANDesk business by August 2010. Here are the emerging details, and the implications for VARs and managed services providers.

From time to time, Dell does a poor job articulating its Ubuntu Linux strategy. But sources close to Dell and Canonical continue to insist the relationship remains healthy and “stronger than ever.” Here’s an update on Dell’s Ubuntu strategy — which includes a dramatic Dell-Ubuntu PC push in China.

Join The VAR Guy today (Wednesday, April 7, 2:00 p.m. eastern) for his Four Steps to SaaS Success webcast. Here’s a closer look at the agenda and guest speakers.

Engadget has what looks like to be an internal slide for HP employees regarding the Slate, pricing, strategy and a side-by-side comparison of the iPad. Is it a fair match? Is it a match at all? Just how does the Slate stack up against Steve Job’s brain child? Read on…

Avnet Inc. is gaining deeper footing into distribution channels in Indonesia. Expanding their reach in the ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations), they’ve scooped up a few assets from existing companies. Here’s the details…

Infor, the software developer targeted at providing solutions for mid-market customers, says its year-and-a-half long channel partner recruitment drive has ended in success, with 25 companies agreeing to resell their ERP, PM, and EAM products. Here’s the deal.

Just because it’s a consumer device doesn’t mean it can’t be used for business: VARs leveraging The Rackspace Cloud’s servers can now manage them through a brand-new application for Apple’s brand new iPad tablet computer — the first from any cloud provider, Rackspace claims. Here’s the scoop.

CompTIA, perhaps the largest association serving VARs and channel partners, is making progress with its open source education strategy. The latest example: CompTIA and the Linux Professional Institute (LPI) are expected to announce an international certification partnership on April 7. Here’s the scoop.

OnForce is seeking a chief operating officer to work closely with CEO Peter Cannone. The move comes amid a few changes at the online marketplace for VARs and solutions providers.

Call it a case of Spy vs. Spy in the IT Channel. By now, you know the Cisco Partner Summit and HP Americas Partner Conference are scheduled for the same week in April. Now here’s the twist: Cisco and HP seem to be studying each other in order to apply some final polish to their respective partner conference agendas. Here are the details.

If you’ve got data problems or simply are looking for a better data solution, you might want to check out Xiotech. Wrought out of Seagate, these guys know storage down to the firmware on the driver board. Any storage VARs, or ISV’s might want to read on, check out what Xiotech is about, and their upcoming announcement for April 12th 2010…

Digium’s decision to engage channel partners seems to be paying dividends in the unified communications market. Nearly 70 percent of Digium’s revenue for Asterisk — the open source IP PBX — now involves partners, according to The VAR Guy’s second annual Open Source 50 survey. Here are deeper details about Digium’s partner momentum.

As was the on-going joke with Easter Sunday being April 4th, “iPad Saturday” became the nomenclature for April 3rd, 2010. And what a day it was. Apple had yet another hit. Initial reports are that over 300,000 units were sold just in Day 1, and more every day. Here’s the scoop on Apple and the iPad numbers…

Red Hat Enterprise Linux already enjoys strong momentum on Wall Street. But now, The VAR Guy hears, Red Hat is preparing to make a private cloud pitch to Wall Street customers and partners on April 19. Here are the detail, and the implications for Red Hat partners.

Call it a small but strategic step in the right direction. Following in the footsteps of Red Hat and Novell, the folks at Canonical are positioning Ubuntu for use by Wall Street firms. Some details about the effort could surface on April 19, during the HPC (High Performance Computing) Linux Financial Markets conference in New York. Here are some details.

Having worked at several enterprise companies and a 60 person start-up I’ve had plenty of experience with CRM systems. I wouldn’t say any of them have been particularly bad experiences but none have been off the charts fantastic either.  It’s become a necessary evil that if we want to track not just our customers and prospects but activities of those who are not yet in our funnel we need some sort of CRM system.

The VAR Guy and MSPmentor each are hosting webcasts for MSPs and solutions providers this month. The lineup starts this Wednesday, April 7, with The VAR Guy Live’s Four Steps to SaaS Success. Next, the MSPmentor Live webcast on April 21 offers a vPro and Windows 7 reality check. Here’s a closer look at the agendas and guest speakers for both events.

Oracle, in collaboration with Amazon.com, is hitting the road and preparing to host a Cloud Computing Forum on April 27 in New York. The move reinforces a careful balancing act between Oracle’s lucrative on-premises software business vs. Oracle’s cloud aspirations. Here are the details.

Say hello to growing competition in the professional services automation (PSA) software market. The latest case in point: When the Consulting Summit conference kicks off in May 2010, NetSuite’s OpenAir business will aggressively promote PSA software to a growing audience of business and technology consultants. Here are the implications for VARs and solutions providers.